4 U I wILL
by MattieK
Summary: what would you do for love? reviews muchos appreciated!
1. Sunrise 7:00 am

"Well, um, bye then

"Well, um, bye then! I'll see you when I come back… which will be soon." Temari promised him, as she always had before leaving for Suna again and again. But true to her word, she had never stayed away for more than a couple weeks.

But this still put Shikamaru down.

"Yeah, see you when you get back," He said rather dully. But his attempt at casualty didn't work, because red patches were appearing on his cheeks.

Temari saw this, and giggled. Shikamaru blushed even harder. Temari smiled at him and then raised a fist and punched him softly in the arm. "don't let Ino get to you too much. She's a good person deep down."

"Deep, DEEP down." Shikamaru grunted. Temari laughed her husky laugh, her turquoise eyes twinkling with mischief at him.

"Bye Shikamaru," she said, still laughing at him.

_Aw, crap. She's gonna leave again,_ Shikamaru thought quickly. _So what now? Should I go for it? Just hug her, man! Take it one step at a time. _He was sure she would let him hug her, he knew her like the back of his hand; but that didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was the smartest strategist in Konoha.

"Temari, wait." He said, grabbing her hand and swinging her around into a hug. "Don't stay away too long" he whispered into her ear, right by his mouth. Then he moved his head so that he could stare into her face, her bright, beautiful eyes dancing with amusement, as if to challenge him, their lips inches apart.

Her eyes darted down to his lips, and Shikamaru swore he saw her head mover forward…

"TEMMI!" Kankuro appeared, leaping down from a tree, still chewing the dango he had been eating for lunch. Shikamaru jerked himself away from Temari's arms, and rubbed the back of his head, shamefully. Temari was unfazed, as usual.

"Hey Kanky!" she said.

"wussup?" said Kankuro, oblivious to what had just happened.

"Not much, me and Shikamaru were-" but she was cut off by a cloud of sand that swirled around about five feet away. Shikamaru rolled his eyes when Temari wasn't looking as the proud figure of Gaara formed.

"Are you two ready to go?" Gaara asked coming up behind his big brother and sister and placing a hand on each shoulder. Though they all looked fairly harmless at the moment, the three sand ninja all standing in a line was VERY intimidating. He remembered what that puppet and that sand and especially that fan could do.

"Yup!" said Temari, smiling warmly at her littlest brother.

"You know it." Kankuro breathed, looking at the city in front of him. "the blond girl with no pupils has been driving me INSANE all week. And Naruto always gives me a headache. "

"well, thank you for-once again- making our stay here more comfortable." Said Gaara to Shikamaru in a business-like ton.

"No problem." Shikamaru mumbled, cowering. And just before the three leapt off to glide through the trees back to Suna, Kankuro winked at Shikamaru knowingly, almost as if ,aybe he hadn't been eating the WHOLE time he was up in the tree.

Which made Shikamaru turn pink. Then scowl.

As he watched the three figures dancing through the trees into the sunrise, Shikamaru was sure of only one thing. He thought about the sandy-haired girl day and night, her turquoise eyes flickering in and out of his dreams. And every time he saw her perfect dark-dressed figure, his powerful brain seemed to turn to mush and his insides would roll around inside of him.

He was in love with Temari of the sand.


	2. Early Morning 8:00 am

"…he-he- and wherever did Naruto get his orange jumpsuit

"…he-he- and wherever did Naruto get his orange jumpsuit? I mean-hehe- I TOTALLY want one! Black is getting old." Said Kankuro, him and Temari hotly abusing the Konoha Ninja's nerdy fashion sense. They had nothing _better _to do on the two day walk home to Suna.

Temari could have died laughing. Kankuro always had a joke up his sleeve.

It was silent for a few minutes, as Temari watched gaara Stride a few feet in front of them. She was so proud of him, as much change as he had gone through. He was finally just a normal person…

"so, I see Shikamaru still hasn't confessed his feelings for you yet…" said Kankuro conversationally, locking his hands behind his head.

"haha, yeah. Wait, what?!" it took Temari a minute to realize what Kankuro was suggesting.

"no no no no no! are you kidding?! He doesn't feel that wau about me and I most CERTAINLY don't feel that way about him!" but Temari, sadly enough, was lying. And she knew Kankuro could tell.

"whatever makes you happy!" said Kankuro cheerfully… too cheerfully.

It was silent for another few seconds, while Temari fumed.

"well…" she began.

"go on…" said Kankuro eagerly.

Temari huffed. "even if I did feel that way about him, it could never work out." Said she, matter-of-factly.

"why not?" asked Kankuro, almost angrily.

"Number one: Ino likes him. I mean, she flirts with, like everyone, but she's different around him. She's… better when she's around him.

Number two: we live like…" Temari quickly calculated-" 142.6 miles away from eachother. And so It's not like I could find time out of my busy schedule at any time to go hang out with him."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and sniggered.

"and third of all-" she sighed. " third of all, I wouldn't ever stop loving him. So when he grows up and moves on to new people.. I will still be fucking sitting on my ass, taking anti-depressants and flipping through photo albums… totally NOT moving on!" Temari was practically screaming by now. "but that's just if I had feelings for him, which I totally don't."

"alright, well, I can name three reasons why you should totally be together, if you wanna hear em."

"fine, but it won't change anything." Mumbled Temari grumpily.

"number one: even though you're my sister, you're like, gorgeous." Temari smiled, looking straight ahead as Kankuro continued. "two: Temmi, you're as stubborn as Naruto trying to find Sasuke. And if and if you two did get together even with the 7,000 mile distance-"

"142 miles-"

"whatever! You would find a way to make your love prevail." Temari rolled her eyes. "and third and final: Shikamaru is a smart guy… a REALLY smart guy. And I'll bet that if he loves you, he will have his mind set on you and nobody else. He won't just throw you away leaving you with nothing. I mean, he'll probably have the next 500 steps of your relationship planned out." Temari laughed.

"I dunno. " she said dubiously.

"oh, and Temari?" said Kankuro looking ahead.

"yeah?'

Kankuro chuckled, then said in a VERY matter-of-fact tone: "don't even try to play that 'I don't like him card, cause you two are totally crazy about each other."

She blushed, and thanked god for little brothers and hot shinobi with ponytails.


	3. Morning 9:00 am

It was a quiet, but extremely hot day in Konoha, and Kiba Inuzuka didn't feel the need to wear his BLACK LEATHER jacket to wor

It was a quiet, but _extremely _hot day in Konoha, and Kiba Inuzuka didn't feel the need to wear his BLACK LEATHER jacket to work. He had hauled hi ass out of bed and walked to The Dango Shop where he worked, completely shirtless. He got some nice looks from some nice looking girls, and he sure as hell didn't mind that. On a normal day at work, he swept the floors, wiped the counters of the tiny shop, and took the orders dutifully, winking at the girls and chatting with the guys. But since today was a welting 122 degrees, most people chose to remain in the coolness of their own homes, so business was not strong.

So there was Kiba, lying fast asleep on one of the bar stools with his head on the bar counter. Since he had become a Jounin about 3 months ago (right after his sixteenth life had not been intriguing. Konoha was apparently perfectly safe from all adversaries. Tsunade called this a miracle, Kiba called this bull shit.

Yes, life was like a bug stuck on a piece of gum under a sweltering sun. well, except…

Except for her of course.

You see, the only real reason Kiba worked at The Dango Shop (other than the fact that him mother now refused to pay for his meals) was Hinata Hyuuga. The shop was by far her favorite place to visit, and unless she was on a mission, Hinata would stop by Hinata would stop by everyday for the latest lunch special, some tea, and a meaningful conversation with her best guy friend: Kiba.

Though, there were times when she was accompanied by Sakura, Ino, or Tenten. And if Temari was in town, all five girls would come down and flirt with "That hot Inuzuka kid," (as Temari had so magnanimously dubbed him). But, on those days, Kiba would just flirt back ever so slightly, and pray to god for them to go away, cause all he really cared about was Hinata. On those days, the most he would get out of Hinata was a friendly "Hi Kiba!" and then "See you Kiba!" and that just wasn't satisfying.

So anyway, there he lay, his head in his arms on the counter, snoring slightly, His dangling feet inches from the furry white mane of Akamaru, who lay below him, also sleeping.

"umm, Kiba-kun?"

"_sniff, snort"_

"Kiba-kun! Get up silly!"

Kiba felt himself being shaken by delicate, light fingers.

"Huh? What? Iwasworkingthewholetime… he mumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. then he turned, and there SHE was, giggling softly at him. He rubbed his forehead to hide his pink cheeks.

He got up from the bar stool, stepping on Akamaru and causing him to snap angrily at Kiba. But then the dog saw Hinata, and was instantly placated. Akamaru turned his tail on Kiba and flashed her a panting, friendly smile. She absentmindedly scratched the dog behind the ears while smiling at Kiba; then she too turned pink. Her eyes had accidentally traveled downward, and she found that Kiba was, in fact, shirtless. With a VERY attractive six pack, nonetheless.

He sported long, slender muscles, perfectly tanned. He was just the right size for a sixteen-year-old boy. He had the most absolutely perfect features ever, Hinata was jealous. And intrigued. Though she would never admit it. He had once told her that he built houses in the summer, so she bet that was where he got the muscles from.

"hey Hinata," Kiba finally said.

"hey!' breathed Hinata, still pink. Kiba noticed.

"oh, right, sorry!" he jumped effortlessly over the counter and went through the door in the wall, which lead back into the kitchen, where the fat cook was sleeping lazily in a chair, a half peeled peach in one hand. Kiba crept past the chair where the cook took up most of the tiny kitchen, and snatched a thin white t-shirt off the coat rack by the back door. He slipped it on and quietly maneuvered back out through the door, where Hinata was waiting for him. Today she was wearing her regular dark kapris and a dark blue slightly v-necked tee. For all Kiba could tell, she was barefoot.

"so…' Kiba began, leaning against the counter. "what's happening?"

"not much." Hinata sat herself down at the bar. Kiba could tell she wasn't saying something.

"uh huh." He said skeptically. He raised an eyebrow. Hinata giggled.

"alright, since you really want to know…"

"hehehe." He sniggered. He pulled out two jugs of green tea from under the counter, slid one to Hinata, and motioned for her to continue.

"okay, well, I guess I told you already I like Naruto," Kiba's face hardened, but Hinata didn't notice. He mumbled something that sounded like "unfortunately" but nodded.

"well, it's just that… I don't know how to do it!"

"do what?" he asked, a little concerned.

"…ask him out…" she said quietly. She sounded distressed. "Kiba, I've gotten to where I feel like it's now or never, cause…"

"cause why?" asked Kiba anxiously.

"cause I think, maybe, I'm falling out of love with him. And I don't want to!!"

Then there was silence. A little awkward if you asked Kiba. Hinata was biting her lip, but waited patiently for Kiba's response.

_Crap. She wants advice. But I like her, how can I give her advice on dating another guy? _He thought for a minute, and then came to the best conclusion. _Hinata would tell me what's best for me. _

"Go for it." he said simply.

"what?" Hinata looked confused.

" Hinata, if you always live in Naruto's shadow, he's never going to notice you!" he said with sympathy, but his voice was firm. "you're so much stronger than you seem on the inside, and I know that if you set your mind to it and not worry about the consequences," he leaned over the counter and tucked her hair behind her ear. She was completely stunned. "that strength inside you that I love will take you anywhere you want to go."

Hinata stared up into Kiba's dark eyes in utter awe. She had never realized that Kiba was so… right. Now she saw that it was always there, that rightness, that smartness, she just didn't see it. she was too busy paying attention to Naruto. Suddenly his endless onyx eyes were more fascinating than ever.

She suddenly saw in her mind her favorite fantasy. If was of her and Naruto, sitting on the stone bench behind the academy. In her mind, Naruto had just confessed his feelings of undying love for her, and leaned forward. Then, in her fantasy, they would share their first kiss together. But this time in her fantasy, it wasn't Naruto next to her, but Kiba. And she thought, and it was an extremely different and new idea. Not unpleasant, just strange. And the weird thing was, she kind of liked it.

"hey, Hinata, you alright?" Hinata came back to earth to find herself staring at that familiar face and friendly fanged smile. She the felt a sharp, sudden, pain in her shoulder, and reached up to rub it, only to find Kiba's big hand there, his nails subliminally scraping up her shoulder.

"oh, sorry." He said, hastily tugging his hand away. But Hinata didn't let go, instead she entwined her fingers between his long ones, her other hand finding his check somehow and stroking it softly: it was rather coarse. She pulled his face closer, even though there was a counter in between them, never breaking eye contact.

The voice in Kiba's head was practically shrieking at him: _shit, what now? What the hell do I do?? Just keep calm, don't do anything. Oh shit, oh shit oh shit. She's gonna kiss me. _

But it wasn't today. Instead of his own lips, her's pressed softly against his ear, and she whispered. "meet me at the stone bench tomorrow at 1:00 in the morning. I need to talk to you where no one will hear. Please, please be there. I need to know something." Then she kissed him on the cheek, and pulled her hand out of his, pulling him into a tight hug, the bar counter digging into her hips as she did so.

Now he whispered almost silently in her ear as he held her back: "I'll be there." She squeezed him tight.

"thank you, you're an amazing friend." Before turning and walking fast towards the Hyuuga compound.

"am I really?" asked Kiba, smiling, (though she couldn't see it)

she turned her head and cooed sweetly: "the best."

He remembered her white eyes for the rest of the day.


End file.
